Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

Albert Goldbarth's "Canyon Gorge Arroyo" is a richly layered meditation on memory, history, and the passage of time, weaving together themes of archival preservation, personal ancestry, and the deep, geological strata of human experience. Through its evocative imagery and narrative complexity, the poem explores how the past is stored and how it can be accessed and understood.

The poem opens with a historical anecdote about George Thomason, a 17th-century bibliophile who buried his collection of over 22,000 seditious tracts to prevent their discovery by the Army. This image of buried knowledge serves as a metaphor for the countless documents and artifacts that lie hidden beneath the earth, waiting to be uncovered: "How many other codices / and folios are stored down there, are held in geologic strata?" The idea of pages trading earth for air, yet no longer turning, highlights the fragility and impermanence of human records.

Goldbarth then transitions to a personal reflection on his Grandpa Louie, whose physical body has become one with the earth. This fusion of body and soil symbolizes the integration of personal history into the larger narrative of the world: "My Grandpa Louie isn't only in the earth, by now he is the earth." The poem poignantly recalls Louie's Old World sensibilities, from his tea-drinking habits to his enjoyment of Russian tavern songs, and connects these memories to the enduring presence of the Yiddish-language newspaper.

The poet imagines the newspaper, still being published, waiting to join Louie in the grave, metaphorically covering his chest as he used to sleep under its pages. This image ties the personal with the historical, suggesting a continuity between past and present, life and death.

The poem then broadens its scope to encompass the universal act of uncovering history: "Canyon, gorge, arroyo — we can see at any cleft in the earth, it's text on text the whole way down." Here, Goldbarth likens the earth's strata to a library, filled with layers of human history and experience. The process of excavation, whether by an archaeologist, paleontologist, or librarian, becomes a metaphor for discovering and interpreting the past.

Goldbarth emphasizes the relentless nature of time, which consumes and dissolves artifacts like "Time's salivas" dissolving a peppermint lozenge. Yet, occasionally, relics do emerge, such as the ancient Incan quipus, which carry encoded messages through knots, akin to the Jewish tallis or rosary beads. These artifacts remind us of the complexity of human communication and the weight of historical memory.

In the poem's climactic section, the speaker dreams of visiting Grandpa Louie's grave. This dream becomes a journey into the depths of familial and cultural memory: "I was there in the must, I wandered the city / architected of bone and the ghosts of electrical pulses." The imagery of a city built of bone and ghostly electrical impulses underscores the interplay between physical remains and the intangible traces of life.

The speaker's profound realization comes as he feels at home in the gutturals of Yiddish speech and the tangible artifacts of Louie's life: "I spread apart the shut halves of his ribcage and I studied. / I could read him like an open book." This powerful metaphor encapsulates the poem's central theme of uncovering and understanding the past, suggesting that through diligent exploration and empathy, we can connect deeply with our ancestors and their histories.

"Canyon Gorge Arroyo" by Albert Goldbarth is a masterful reflection on the layers of history, the act of preservation, and the intimate connections between personal memory and broader cultural narratives. Through its intricate imagery and thoughtful exploration of time, the poem invites readers to contemplate the ways in which we uncover and make sense of the past, finding continuity and meaning in the seemingly disparate elements of our collective human experience.

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